Councillors vote to increase council tax

13 February 2018

Portsmouth councillors voted to increase council tax by 4.49% at today's full council meeting.

Most of the money will be spent protecting funding for adult social care services to help the city's most vulnerable residents, a move the majority of residents supported in the most recent budget consultation.

Like all local authorities, the council is facing further cuts to the money it gets from the government. It has already made £94m of savings over the last seven years in addition to the £4m agreed in the coming year's budget.

Cllr Donna Jones, Leader of the council, said: "We have worked hard to mitigate the reduction in government grant by generating income. No one wants to increase council tax if it can be avoided but the growing costs in social care have left little choice and protecting our most vulnerable residents is a top priority.”